Time to sharpen up your oars
Not only does it look cool, it also gives parents and other spectators on the sidelines a chance to actually know what boat they are looking at coming down the race course! We’ll look at all the steps of doing basic oar paint jobs, and talk about some alternatives such as having them painted at the factory for you or just skipping the paint and using simple vinyl decals instead.
Whats best for the blade?
This part is kind of a matter of opinion, but you can take a look at the chart below and decide for yourself what will suit your club. The colour coding is Green = super easy. Red = super hard. Yellow is in between.

Jon Kotwicki wrote the chart and is an expert boatman from the RowIntel website.
Please make a donation to help him keep this excellent resource free.
Oar painting resources
Want to learn how to paint oars? Here’s a list of helpful resources
- How to Paint Oars and Sculls written by us, Rowperfect
- A nice video of a boatman painting blades including feathering in the paint – cute music too – by Pogotowie Malarskie
- Durham Boat (who sell Dreher oars) instructions on painting
- Concept2 guide to painting blades includes advice on different finishes, different custom paints and older C2 designs.
Did we miss any? Send us more links.